Facebook's Katherine Losse Spills About the Company's Beginnings in The Boy Kings

Do you remember what the Facebook homepage looked like before the birth of News Feed? I'll admit I have zero idea, despite being a member of the site for what seems like a zillion years before News Feed launched in 2009 (OK, it was two, but still). I'm asking because ever since I finished Katherine Losse's new book, The Boy Kings (Free Press, June 2012), I've been racking my brain trying to remember—but I can't. The message in Losse's memoir that breaks down her experience as Facebook's fifty-first employee is a warning about why that's actually a bad thing. Remembering what the Facebook homepage looked like in the mid-2000s probably seems trivial, but wait—here's why you want the Katherine's perspective on things.

Here's the thing: Mark Zuckerberg has been synonymous with Facebook since it kicked off in his dorm room in 2004 (no, sadly, Justin Timberlake wasn't actually there). We rarely hear about the other personalities behind Facebook's massive success. That's why Losse's take is so interesting; the portrait she paints of Facebook's power players—the men—is hardly flattering. On the one hand, these are guys who go to clubs, order bottle service, and have bouncers bring women to their table—only to chat up each woman up before deliberately snubbing her. On the other side of things, they're dudes who triumphantly announce technology they've built, like the creation of an algorithm to that describes how close one is to his friends based solely on their Facebook interactions. In other words, these are egotistical, sexist guys whose real-life social skills…well, let's just say they leave a little something to be desired, shall we?

I found her account of being in that kind of environment totally disturbing, especially when she described that they possessed a kind of "world domination" group mentality that aims to draw as many people as possible into a network where everyone socializes and connects the way they do. And they're very successful at it. It's chilling—and it's insanely brave of her to put forth the account, especially when Facebook is as big-deal as it is now.

That gets me back to News Feed. Today, for Facebook's 845 million users, logging in and seeing the photos, relationship stories, and status updates from their hundreds of Facebook friends seems totally mundane. But this wasn't always the case. On the day of News Feed's launch, Losse describes a "minor Vietnam" outside the company office, with helicopters and reporters circling the office videotaping the massive number of protestors. Losse, who at the time was part of the customer support team, received thousands of complaint emails, many using phrases like, "You've ruined my life."

Those messages may seem melodramatic, but stop for a second—can you remember a time when a couple broke up and the world didn't know about it two minutes later? I've found out about birth, relationships, marriage, break-ups, and death on News Feed, and while you might feel silly admitting it, you probably have, too too. These are important life events that, more and more, we're broadcasting to the whole world, while less often sharing them privately and intimately. News Feed has totally changed the way we're developing personal relationships, and Losse was in the thick of it as it unfolded, connected with all the people behind its creation—that's why I couldn't put down her account of it. Kind of crazy to think about all the pieces coming together, right?

Losse poignantly recounts that she used to "[wonder]…if News Feed and the future of Facebook would be built on the model of how social cohesion works—what is comfortable and relevant to you and what isn't—or if it would be indifferent to etiquette and sensitivity." She concludes the company ended up embracing the latter model. Facebook is a tool that delivers as much news in as fast a way possible. It aims to make our online interactions just as meaningful, if not more so, than our real-life ones. The other day, I saw how true it was: I caught myself snapping photos of a beautiful sunset with my phone in order to immediately upload them onto Facebook rather than sitting back and basking in it.

The Boy Kings needs a place on your summer reading list. Losse made me think twice about how I socialize with people, and how exactly that came to be--and it just might encourage you to hop offline and appreciate non-virtual reality.

Would you consider picking up a copy of Losse's new book? Do you think Facebook has changed the way you interact with friends and family?